42% of Americans Believe That The IRS Is Doing a Poor Job

The IRS (Internal Revenue Service) has never been the most popular government agency in the United States.

Things have really gotten bad for the IRS in recent months, however, thanks to the recent scandal involving the agency's alleged intense (to put it lightly) scrutinization of tax-exempt conservative groups.

Let's rewind to 2003.

According to Gallup.com, 44% of Americans felt as though the IRS was doing an excellent or good job in 2003. 38% of Americans felt that they were doing a fair job at the time, while just 15% thought that the agency was doing a "poor" job.

In 2009, the numbers degraded a bit for the IRS, as just 40% of those responded felt as though the agency was doing a good job. The number of respondents who felt as though the agency was doing a "poor" job crept up to 20%.

Fast forward to May of 2013, and the Internal Revenue Service's approval numbers have dropped off a cliff, thanks, in large part, to the recent scandal.

Let's take a look at their current job rating numbers:

Excellent/Good - 27%
Fair - 29%
Poor - 42%

Gallup.com includes nine government agencies (CDC, FBI, NASA, CIA, FDA, Department of Homeland Security, EPA, Federal Reserve and IRS) in their survey, and of the nine, only the IRS currently has a net negative rating. Even the Federal Reserve, which has received its fair share of criticism over the past couple of years, has a net positive rating.

Republicans and Independents have both turned dramatically against the IRS in recent years.

Let's look at the net IRS job ratings (number of respondents who say that the agency is doing a good/excellent job minus those who think that they are doing a poor job) from 2003, 2009 and 2013 by political party:

Democrats

2003, 26
2009, 31
2013, 16

Independents

2003, 28
2009, 11
2013, -25

Republicans

2003, 34
2009, 13
2013, -38

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At this point, you have to wonder exactly what the government could do to sway public opinion of the Internal Revenue Service back in a positive direction.